He has been called the next Warren Sapp.
He was called the 2nd best available DT in his draft class.
He has been called a Bust.
Now, Gerald McCoy is called an All Pro, and he is a perennial participant in the Pro Bowl. But not everybody in the country is sold. Bucs fans are starting to come around, now that McCoy is finally completing seasons and showing what he is capable of.
In each of his first two years McCoy had his year cut short with an injury. Bucs fans mistakenly called him a Bust, but not everyone; And especially not Gerald McCoy. He’s been fighting for respect since he came into the league, when everyone had Ndamukong Suh rated over him as the best Defensive Tackle in the 2010 draft.
Everyone except former Bucs GM Mark Dominik, who now with ESPN told the world via his Twitter feed he rated McCoy over Suh on his draft board that year. But for the rest of us, McCoy had an uphill battle to climb.
Today few would take Suh over his Buc counterpart: seemingly in some type of trouble each season with misdirected behavior, even the numbers are starting to show McCoy was the better choice. McCoy has 18 Career sacks and 119 combined tackles. Suh has 185 combined tackles and 27 sacks, but only 5.5 last year; half of McCoys output.
Fans are hoping his improving status is going to get #93 his second contract that the Bucs are clearly maneuvering to give him.Tampa Bay front brass are making it known they intend to make McCoy a Buc for a long time, as resigning him is a priority for the franchise. Entering the final year of his first contact, McCoy is set to make 15 million dollars this year for the now two time pro bowler who came closest to breaking double digit sacks for the Bucs for the first time since 2005 when Simeon Rice accomplished the deed. Gerald finished with 9.5 on the year.
New Head Coach Lovie Smith calls McCoy a veteran leader: something the Bucs haven’t had from a home grown product in a long time. Its one thing to bring in a veteran Free Agent, but its another to have a leader emerge from a player you drafted and reared.
With all the comparisons even by his idol himself, McCoy is about to really be tested with the new coaching staff that is putting in place the same defensive system Warren Sapp excelled in. Great things are expected of McCoy now, and the opportunity is there for him to break out and establish himself as the premier defensive tackle in the NFL.
Lovie and the Bucs are counting on it: the 3 technique DT is the engine that drives the Tampa Two defense. Without McCoy’s relentless pressure on the QB, and halting running backs while on the way to the passer, the rest of the defensive system collapses on itself.
But if McCoy excels as he’s expected to, there may be other names future fans will call him: Like Hall of Famer, or talking about some other draft pick as being the next Gerald McCoy in the making.
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